GMC responds to House of Commons Health Committee 'Annual accountability hearing with the General Medical Council'

GMC responds to House of Commons Health Committee 'Annual accountability hearing with the General Medical Council'

"We welcome this report, which will help us drive forward our already ambitious agenda of reform. The Committee describes the GMC as a ‘high performing regulator’ that is seen nationally and internationally as robust and well-functioning. According to the MPs our financial performance is good and we are making progress across a range of issues, including many of those identified in the Committee’s earlier report on the revalidation of doctors.

"However, the Committee rightly challenges us as well as all health professionals and their regulators to speak up if they are aware of poor patient care. We know there is more we can do in this area and we are committed to doing it. Later this year we will be consulting on a new version of our core guidance, Good Medical Practice, and producing new advice about raising concerns. But this is not just about releasing guidance – the important point is that doctors are aware of these issues and act appropriately. We will be working with the profession to take this forward.

"We are also encouraged by the Committee’s support for our plans to modernise our fitness to practise work and the management of hearings, including crucially allowing us the right of appeal against decisions we feel do not protect the public. These plans include establishing a separate body to manage fitness to practise hearings, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS). The MPTS will be led by a senior judicial figure who will have responsibility for the performance management of panellists, an important area the Committee highlighted in its report today. We will move as quickly as possible to appoint the first chair of the MPTS, following the GMC Council’s decision last week to seek to work with the Department of Health to take forward these plans.

"And, working with others, we are committed to meeting the challenge set by the Committee to continue to provide leadership to the profession, particularly in relation to the standards of performance and conduct we expect, so that patients across the UK get the high-quality care they need."